Two former Parramatta Eels players are accused of harbouring semi-automatic weapons and possessing more than half-a-million dollars in cash after dramatic arrests in Sydney's Centennial Park yesterday.

Pope Francis may allow married men in Amazon to become priests

Pope Francis has reportedly made the controversial announcement that he’d like for married men in Brazil to be allowed to become priests.

Priests in the Roman Catholic Church are not permitted to marry, taking a vow of celibacy when they join the religious order.

The request came after the President of the Episcopal Commission for the Amazon, Cardinal Cludio Hummes, asked the pope if he could make an exception for the Amazon because of a huge shortage of ordained ministers in remote communities, The Telegraph reports.

The secretary of the Episcopal Commission, Monsignor Erwin Krautler, quote Pope Francis as telling him to “speak to the bishops and tell them to make valid proposals”.

The proposal – called viri probati – allows men of deep Catholic faith to carry out ministerial duties under extreme circumstances, and has been around for decades, but has been brought back under the spotlight by the issue in the Amazon.

The move is expected to anger conservatives in the Vatican who are already unhappy with the Pontiff’s decision to allow divorced people who have re-married to receive communion if their local priests approves of the move.